Tuesday 20 July 2010

Splice's Greatest Film's Ever Made To Come Out In The 90's (The 1990's)

#11 Toy Story 2

Preamble

As I said in the previous instalment of Splice's Greatest... I went back and watched the Toy Story films in anticipation of going to see the third one. Both are 90's films and both deserve to be on the list.

40 Words Or So

Woody and Buzz are now best friends but when Woody attempts to save a fellow toy at a yard sale he is stolen by a toy collector. It turns out he's a rare plaything and he completes the set of dolls made to tie in with an old TV show. Buzz and the gang set out to save him, only problem is he may not want saving...

Review

For many Toy Story holds up as a perfect example of a sequel that's better than its predecessor. It certainly has an even weepier "emotional moment":



Wipe it aff yer cheek there big yin.

Simply it isn't a better film than the first one. Background reading reveals that after A Bug's Life John Lasseter decided to take a holiday, leaving the team to do the sequel. Somehow they made a balls up of it though, so pressed for time Lasseter resumed control and somehow made a brilliant film regardless. The main difference though is that things feel a bit looser. This is probably down to the time constraints. Whereas the script for the original was honed to perfection, Toy Story 2 had a massive overhaul less than a year before it was released.

It still gets so much right, from the little knowing winks based around jokes in the first one to the emotional depth of the story. In fact Woody's predicament is arguably of a weightier nature than either his or Buzz's first time around. The biggest problem is that the secondary rescue story story feels rushed, although it does have some great set pieces:



These mainly occur in Al's Toy Barn where we're introduced to how toys live in there. But there isn't really a sense of danger, such as that provided by Sid in the first one. He kills and maims toys, Al just collects them to sell to the Japanese.

In the end Toy Story 2 is still a fantastic film, indeed it's a worthy successor to one of the finest ever made and great proof that sequels can be a good thing. It just can't quite live up to its earlier counterpart. But then, not many films can.

The 100 List (Where and Why)

There was a time that Toy Story 2 would be sitting right there behind the first one. In fact there would have been a wrestling match in my mind whether it should be sitting above it. Watching both again after a while away set me straight on this. The second one is great but has fallen in my affections in a way the first hasn't.

1. Toy Story
2. Braindead
3. Hudsucker Proxy
4. Grosse Pointe Blank
5. Tremors
6. Toy Story 2
7. Cube
8. Galaxy Quest
9. White Men Can't Jump
10. Groundhog Day
11. Porco Rosso

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